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Los Angeles mayors once played the role of kingmaker in school board elections. Both Richard Riordan and Antonio Villaraigosa took on the teachers union, leading campaigns to raise money for favored candidates. When those candidates won, the mayors influenced district spending, the hiring of superintendents and the direction of reforms — often over union opposition. In Tuesday's election, this role has shifted to a statewide charter school group, which is raising money, sending mailers and rallying parents in an effort to become a permanent political force. The push comes at a crucial time for charter schools, which have been growing at a rapid clip in Los Angeles Unified...

Related "Richard Riordan" Articles

Los Angeles mayors once played the role of kingmaker in school board elections.
Both Richard Riordan and Antonio Villaraigosa took on the teachers union, leading campaigns to raise money for favored candidates. When those candidates won, the mayors...

Hundreds of people poured into downtown over the weekend for a one-day only sneak peek of the Broad museum, which is scheduled to open officially in September. Though Eli Broad's new museum has yet to be completed — there is still...

The nearly completed Broad museum in downtown Los Angeles resembles a giant, milky honeycomb, so it was appropriate that on Sunday the place buzzed with activity.
Curious artists, journalists and art world figures streamed through the airy,...

Rick Orlov, a veteran political reporter who covered City Hall for the Los Angeles Daily News for nearly three decades, beginning in the Tom Bradley administration, died Monday. He was 66.
Orlov died in Los Angeles of complications from diabetes,...

The scene was unremarkable: a white Gulfstream parked alongside a chain-link fence at Van Nuys Airport. The most conspicuous part of the plane was the large blue horseshoe near the top of the tail — the signature logo of the Indianapolis Colts.
It came...

A former state pension board member at the center of a long-running influence-peddling scandal that rocked state government committed suicide Tuesday, just weeks before the start of his federal trial on bribery and fraud charges.
Police in Reno confirmed...

A local charter school group that is battling for survival has turned to a well-known and sometimes controversial education figure to take charge. Magnolia Public Schools, under fire for money management and other issues, has hired former L.A. school...

Pardon our skepticism.
The proposal by billionaire Stan Kroenke to build a football stadium in Inglewood and make it the home of the St. Louis Rams has much to commend it: He's not asking for public subsidies (yet) and has not indicated that he wants...

Efforts to improve local government and the services it provides have come and gone over the 22 years I have covered Los Angeles for this newspaper. Some have been successful: The Christopher Commission reset the accountability systems at the LAPD, and...

In his long public life in Los Angeles, including eight years as mayor, few ever accused Richard J. Riordan of being the Great Communicator.
Sincere. Awkward. Generous. Tone deaf. Unbending. Passionate. All of those, yes. But capable of moving people...

Like the four mayors before him, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti will embark this weekend on a trade mission to China, South Korea and Japan, with an 80-member delegation of local officials and business leaders.
The mayor says the goal of the 12-day...

The race to succeed liberal lion Henry A. Waxman in Congress produced a crowded, costly primary studded with political stars and high-profile newcomers. Now, it has mellowed into a lopsided, gentlemanly contest between two men with "American...

The gig: Ilse Metchek is president of the California Fashion Assn., which puts her in the perfect spot to be the connector and self-described "class historian" for the Southland's fashion and retail industry. Metchek oversees a roster of more...

The scene at Mayor Eric Garcetti's minimum-wage announcement on Labor Day was telling in a way that had little to do with his proposal. Joining him on the podium were the head of Los Angeles' labor federation, the city's preeminent businessman and...

As they did in the primary, business interests have banded together to support candidate Bobby Shriver's bid to replace Zev Yaroslavsky on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, new records show.
The Committee to Elect Bobby Shriver Supervisor 2014...

Murdock Plaza, a prominent Westwood office building on Wilshire Boulevard, has been purchased by New York real estate company Tishman Speyer for a reported $125 million.
The brick-clad 17-story building at the intersection of Wilshire and Westwood...

The event: Los Angeles Ballet staged its annual gala on Saturday, honoring philanthropist Lori Milken, actress Jane Seymour and entertainer Paula Abdul. (The latter came in from down under, where she is a judge on “So You Think You Can Dance Australia,”...

In the latest sign that business interests are coalescing around his candidacy, Los Angeles County supervisorial candidate Bobby Shriver was endorsed Friday by former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.
Riordan cited Shriver's time on the...